Halcyon Project

Revolution Brewing

Day 33 in Upper Teigh
We traveled to Trappers’ Kitchen without incident. Met Cookie. Heard news that the bandits had struck the Upper Teigh tax transport. Sir Richard was forced to double-tax the people of Upper Teigh. Cookie felt that Job’s warrant was probably legit.

Days 34-39 in Upper Teigh
Explored region southwest of Trappers’ Kitchen. Encountered, killed, and skinned a Dire Wolverine of unusual size.
Discoved the slaughtered and skinned remains of Job the Trapper inside a Fey-enchanted circle devoid of even the smallest insect life. Took Job’s masterwork crossbow (as proof as death; later sold), masterwork hand axe (later sold), a flask with silver inlay (Tio later gives this to Halgar), 50’ silk rope (later left in party treasure room), and a masterwork pan flute (which Se took despite Tio’s misgivings).

Day 40 in Upper Teigh
Donald, Grimli and Arsic head to Ottershaw on personal business.
We traveled to the Logging Camp. The foreman/cook was hostile and provided no useful information. Arrived in Ashwood in late afternoon and sold wolverine skin to Harold the Tanner for 650 GP. Returned to Tinderbox, arriving at nightfall and retired to Eight Plates for the night (leaving a watch).

Day 41 in Upper Teigh
Donald rejoins the party. Met with Sir Richard who wants us to return to Ten Trees. Suspecting a trap, we leave a false message for Richard (indicating that we are returning to Ottershaw to meet up with the others.

Day 42 in Upper Teigh
Left at dawn; traveled to path between Ten Trees and Raine’s Fortress, and picked out an appropriate spot for an ambush. Found a useable campsite out of eye- and earshot of the path.

Day 43 in Upper Teigh
Ambush did not spot anyone along the path.

Day 44 in Upper Teigh
Ambush captured Barney (nearly killing him in the process). Barney was on his way to meet with Jameson (a Bandit) at the Gallows. Bluff Barney using some slight of hand and a necklace. Barney fails miserably in completing his mission and we learn nothing (and completely compromise Barney in the eyes of Edgar and the Bandits).

Facts: —Edgar is communicating with the Bandits using Barney to run messages
—Barney is consistently used to transports goods which are then stolen by the Bandits immediately following each message exchange
—Barney is not as dumb as everyone (myself included) has been treating him
—Barney is aware that we have discovered his and Edgar’s part in the Bandit conspiracy
—Barney is NOT an innocent party; he is an active and vital part of the conspiracy

While the others are questioning Barney upon his return, I spotted three riders on the road. Unable to alert the others and not liking three-on-one odds, I had no choice but to let them ride on and then return to camp.
Knowing that Barney was compromised and was a clear, present, and undeniable threat to our well-being, I decided to end the debate by killing him. The party stopped me. I now know who has (or perhaps more accurately, who does NOT have) my back. As long as Barney is alive, our lives hang by the thinnest of threads. However, with no backing whatsoever, I see no way to proceed. My time in Upper Teigh is likely coming to an end. My only goal now is making sure that end is not at the end of a rope.

Days 45-46 in Upper Teigh
Travel without meeting anyone to a cave that Se knew of west of the Grazing Lands. The (foolhardy and purely suicidal) plan is to bluff Barney into remaining at the cave for the immediate future.
Evening at the cave, we discuss the idea of kidnapping Edgar to confirm his part in the Bandit conspiracy. I reveal my previously unrecorded dealing with Edgar as a possible way to draw Edgar outside of the city walls.

Day 47: Arrived at the Standing Stone. No sign of Grimli and Arsic.

Day 48: Dawn at the Standing Stone. Still no sign of Grimli and Arsic, so we agreed to proceed with the plan to kidnap Edgar. Bear and Donald went to check on Barney who was still safe. Se and Halgar went to the bridge west of Tinderbox to plan the ambush site. Ederon and I went to Tinderbox. Playing like we had been betrayed by our party and that the party was also after Edgar, I was able to sow enough paranoia to get Edgar to agree to me Ederon and myself at the bridge at nightfall. I did perhaps too good a job as he insisted on bringing at least one guard with him.

In an amazing twist of fate, our plan actually worked more or less as we intended. Sleep spells removed the horses from the equation. When our companions lept out of hiding, I played that I was as surprised as Edgar, leaving him feeling safe to turn his back on me. Thus surrounded, the guard was soon felled and Edgar captured without any real harm. We were able to transport him to an abandoned cabin in the woods not far from Barney’s cave where we heard Edgar’s tale.

Edgar and Richard have been in contact with Jameson, a bandit who controls around half of the raiders who have been making life difficult for everyone in Upper Teigh. Even as Controy plots to use the bandits to set himself up as King, Richard is doing the same, allowing Controy to do most of the work and take all of the blame until it is too late for anyone to stop Richard.

Not entirely believing him, Bear and I agreed to meet with Richard. We were given the code word “Liana” to convince Richard of Edgar’s wellbeing. We should try to find out who/what Liana is.

Day 49: As we enter Tinderbox, the four (double the normal number) gate guards and the Captain surrounded Bear and I and attempted to arrest us, managing to (temporarily) restrain Bear. A brief fight ensued and I slew the Captain. Before things escalated, we manage to arrange to meet with Richard at the Barracks rather than in a cell. Richard is not entirely forthcoming, but he agrees to meet with the whole group at his manor house.

That evening, we arrive with Edgar and Barney in tow. Richard confirms Edgar’s story and reveals, in broad strokes, his own plan to become the King of Upper Teigh.Richard offers us Titles, Land , and gold in exchange for us staying out of his (and Controy’s) way until he needs our assistance. His plan is to seige Wayrest around my 80th day here in Upper Teigh. Over half of Teigh’s soldiers would be in the Vale by then, and half of them are natives who would potentially side with him. The pass beyond Wayrest would be closed for the winter and by spring, Lower Teigh will already be in dire straights between a two front war (with Barra and ???) and being cut off from their major resources (food, gold, manpower). We agree to discuss his offer and continue the meeting in the morning.

Day 50: Richard is basically giving us a choice between fealty (with all the perks) to him or being prisoners until his plan comes to fruition.

Se – Excited by the prospect of being a Titled Landholder.

Bear – Also siding with Richard, but wanting to oporate in a more Mercenary role.

Ederon – For some reason, he also seems to side with Richard.

Halger – Refuses to side wth the “Oathbreaker” Richard threatens to leave the party.

And I – Politics it what sent me out into the world and what prevents me from returning home without a substantial amount of wealth. I am tired of politics. It is a big world and my map is mostly blank. Something I intend to rectify.

Halgar and I leave Richard’s manor house while the others entrench our fates further into the political machine. I select a blnk point on the map and insist that I want to know what is there. Surprisingly, the party agrees. We willset off at dawn tomorrow.

Day 51 (29 days until the revolution): Grimli returns to Tinderbox just as we (including Donald) were planning for our expedition. Horses, Ponies, a Mule and a cart were purchased along with additional rations for the expedition.

Day 52 (28 days until the revolution): We set out. While passing through the Grazing Lands, we locate a fordable span across the river to the south. Duely noted on the map for future reference. We camped for the night south of the Logging Camp.

Day 53 (27 days until the revolution): We crossed through a forested area into a spider-infested rocky area. We reached my goal, which turned out to be a dead-forest spider-infested region. Returned to rockier ground to camp for the night. We found an ancient fallen column. Further investigation turned up carvings of humanoid wrestlers on the column. During 3rd watch, a spider swarm appeared. They behaved strangely, apparently drawn to the disturbed column, and seemed unnaturally observant of us. Despite some injuries and a general inclination to flee, we (and by we I mean our spellcasters) dispatched the swarm.

The plan for Days 54 to 56 was to explore my goal.
Sometimes a map ends because no one has ever returned to fill in the blanks. —The All-Mother

Day 54 (26 days until the revolution): We began to explore the dead-forest area that I had selected as my goal-of-the-moment. What happened next was my own damn fault. However…
Fate conspires to bring about the course of events that was meant to be. —The All-Mother
At any rate, I was able to add to our map of the area. We discovered an unnatural circular region (1/2 mile across) of living (if somewhat “off”) plants surrounding an ancient temple. Crude traps filled the area, but we were able to avoid them. Bear, Halgar, and I entered the temple. Ederon and Grimli stayed at the entrance. Se and Donald stayed back with the horses. At this point all hell broke loose and spiders (tens of thousands of tiny one as well as five giant ones) and a mysterious woman attacked. Bear and I went down, under the effect of some sort of spell, but quickly recovered and charged the woman, sure that she was controlling the spiders. Bear got struck by another spell and was down for the count. Shortly thereafter, I fell beneath the combined attacks of the spiders.

What follows is what I learned from my fellow adventurers: Halgar also fell to the attackers. He, Bear, and I were pulled to safety by the others as the battle wore down. The spiders were all dispatched, but the woman (transformed into a half-humanoid, half-spider creature) escaped, apparently using some sort of invisibility spell. Deciding that retreat was the best option at this juncture. Two cases containing magical energies were looted from the temple and then the party headed out of the area as night fell. One last giant spider pursued the party but was quickly dealt with. Bear kept the head in hopes of extracting the poison.

Days 55 to 56: The party continued to travel back towards Tinderbox. Halgar recovered enough to realize that I was slipping closer to death. His magic saved me. Halgar noticed what had occurred to me ten days earlier: I am turning blue. What the hell? Skin, hair, eyes, everything. Perhaps it is some sort of karmic retribution for some transgression on my part. Day 63 is the All-Mother’s next holy day; I shall have to pray for guidance.

Day 57 (23 days until the revolution): at dawn we reach Tinderbox. The case were opened without incident and found to contain 3 scrolls and a wand. Ederon is studying them. For my part, I would love to return and get some revenge on that spider-woman, finish our exploration of the region, and maybe see how large that lake is.